Have you ever read a book that you liked, but it just took you forever to get through? Well, this isn’t one of those books. I read this book in about a 12 hour period and loved every minute of it even when it was tearing out my heart and stomping on it.

An #OwnVoices young adult novel about an Indian-American, Muslim teen facing growing up in the face of Islamophobia. Maya’s wish is to attend film school in New York, while her parents expect her to go to school closer to home and marry a nice Indian boy, settle down and start a family.

But what happens when a terrorist attack occurs by a suspect who happens to have the same last name as Maya? How will her community react to the news and to her family as the only Muslim family in her small town? This story is an important read for teens in today’s world where being different is feared rather than celebrated, where teens have to worry about things far bigger than choosing a college and getting their first kiss. If you read The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas and it stuck with you, this is a must read.

Twitter Booktalk (140 characters or less): Indian-American Muslim teen Maya wants to go to NYC for film school & is ready to tell her family when a terrorist attack changes everything